Bis research paper number 128 The wider benefits of international higher education in the uk

Case study: I29 
reunite all local Chevening scholars, which cemented some of her networks even more. 
Those friends have gone into all kinds of different sectors, providing her with insights into 
many possibilities for her own future career. 
 
4.4 Benefits to countries of origin 
4.4.1 Benefit type D1: Capacity building and societal development 
From the stories and reports of the alumni interviewed, we can infer certain impacts within 
their countries of origin (‘home’ countries) resulting from their outward mobility as 
international students in the UK. These impacts were largely as a result of their 
professional activities, ranging from the direct labour market benefit of their up-skilling and 
acquisition of new skills, through to broader impacts within societal or economic 
development and capacity building, or even political impact.
4.4.1.1 Research 
evidence 
The personal career enhancement benefit reported by alumni was covered in some detail 
in an earlier section. In many cases this will also have been manifested in benefit for their 
employer and, in turn, for their country’s labour market and economy, strengthening their 
nation’s skills capability. There was widespread evidence from alumni that they had 
secured more advanced roles and higher earnings in the labour market on return home, 
presumably reflecting higher performance and value in their labour market in business-
critical roles. That higher performance should be reflected in growth or success for their 
employer and overall national economic performance. Rather than repeating many specific 
examples, they can be summarised briefly into some sub-categories: 

Alumni who gained progression to enhanced roles in the companies for which they had 
previously worked (a few of which had specifically funded the graduate to attend the 
UK HE course), including some within their family businesses; 

Alumni who moved ‘up’ from prior lower-tier employers to join blue-chip and other 
higher-tier organisations, both national and multinational, deploying their improved 
knowledge, confidence and other skills, and especially their new-found international 
communication and intercultural expertise; 

Alumni with little previous employment experience who immediately on return joined 
either high-profile or international businesses, or else took up international roles within 
other businesses; 

Alumni who were already or became very entrepreneurial and set up new businesses 
themselves, many citing increased self-confidence and inspiration from the enterprising 
spirit and ‘can do’ culture they perceived in the UK, while others were instrumental in 
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
developing new satellite operations for existing businesses using their international 
experience; 

Alumni who had worked before overseas study but on return changed career sector 
and entered organisations and occupations, in many cases roles in which they had 
great personal passion, which would presumably result in high professional impact. 
In all of these scenarios, employers and the home country’s economy stood to benefit from 
employment of an international graduate who had acquired a combination of cutting-edge 
academic or technical expertise as well as a powerful range of enhanced personal (or 
‘soft’) skills derived from study abroad. 
For the employers and economies, amongst the most significant of these ‘employee-
derived’ benefits are almost certainly the additional global outlook, international credibility 
and greater intercultural sensitivity that the international graduates offer, in addition to 
more industry-specific and technical capabilities. In an increasingly global economy, the 
ability to develop trade internationally is important for more and more enterprises. In 
support of this, many of the alumni also now had their own contacts with fellow alumni in 
other countries with whom they had studied, and might in some cases develop business. 
In the same way that participation in global professional networks is of potential value to 
the UK, this too is the case for home country. 
Many of the alumni interviewed also reflected that they now thought more strategically, 
and could bring a more widely informed and critical view than they had previously; again 
this will be of value to their employer in the senior business or management roles that they 
typically now entered.
There was evidence too for a large number of alumni returning to take up technical roles in 
key industry sectors, both knowledge-based and infrastructural or developmental. 
Although relatively few alumni had been sponsored by their employer, there seemed to be 
many cases where a returning graduate entered employment in one of these key sectors 
readily and then progressed quickly, presumably indicating that they were injecting key 
technical skills of high value into these organisations.
Some of the most memorable and inspiring interview conversations were with alumni who 
had personal commitments to capacity building and societal development in their home 
country. Many demonstrated this commitment through employment, or in some cases their 
intended employment, some relating to a career change. These were mostly but not 
exclusively alumni of the Chevening, especially, and Commonwealth scholarship 
schemes. Examples included: 

Commonwealth Scholarship alumnus I18, from a humble background in Malawi, who 
studied nutrition at Glasgow and was completing a PhD in Finland. His career aim was 
to change government policy and broaden understanding of nutrition in Malawi, and he 
had already been working on a nutrition syllabus for schools with the University of 
Malawi where he would soon be based. On return he expected also to resume work 
with the President’s Office, to develop partnerships with NGOs, volunteers and 
communities to disseminate good practice. He wished to ‘pay back’ for his personal UK 
HE experience by making Malawi a better and more self-sufficient place, ultimately 
reducing its dependency on the UK and other aid providers. 
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
Interviewee I38 worked in a teaching hospital back in Nigeria, running her own lab and 
raising scientific standards, having been inspired by her biomedical science degree at 
Roehampton. Determined to make a difference in her own country rather than forging a 
comfortable career abroad, she was trying to set up organisations facilitating students 
to undertake volunteering (almost unknown in Nigeria) and promoting environmental 
awareness: 
“If I’m lucky enough, get a PhD because I want to go to the university and 
bring back my experience from the UK and impart it on to the students here in Nigeria.
At least give them a chance, if they’re not able to seek that sort of knowledge and or be 
taught in the way they’re supposed to be taught. So I can bring it back to them and 
teach them the way I think they should be taught, and give them the attention I think 
they should be getting, and expose them to resources they would otherwise not be 
exposed to.” 

Visually impaired graduate I61 was completing a PhD at the Institute of Education, 
London, having come to London for a Masters and then worked for the RNIB for 2 
years. Her aim was to influence policymakers in her native Lebanon to improve access 
to education and opportunities for visually impaired people, and to advise and support 
the mostly unqualified care workforce who support those with disability. She had built a 
wide international network and set up a partnership between her HEI and a Lebanese 
university, and travelled widely to international conferences despite her complete 
blindness.